Various types of salad spinners are known for drying, or otherwise removing moisture, from salad and other foods. Such devices generally include some type of a bowl, a cover and a basket, which may also have a lid, adapted to spin within the bowl by some type of mechanical actuator. The centrifugal forces caused by the rotational velocity of the basket relative to the bowl, causes water and moisture within the food or salad to be separated and collected within the bowl. Mechanical actuators typically used on salad spinners have included hand crank mechanisms, pull strings and pump/screw mechanisms, for example.
Generally, these devices have relied on frictional interaction between bearing surfaces, for example, to allow the rotation of the basket to a stop after it has been spun to dry food. Such devices generally have not included a braking structure for stopping the spinning of the basket. In such cases, the user must typically wait until the spinning basket stops before removing the cover of the container and lid from the basket to access to the food within the basket. A braking structure is desirable so that a user would not have to open the cover to manually stop a spinning basket or to wait for bearing surface friction to eventually stop the basket.
Referring to FIGS. 1-2, exemplary devices for drying food are reproduced, in part, from FIGS. 20 and 3, respectively, of U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,883 to Mulhauser (incorporated herein), to show the basic features of a salad spinner of the type to which the disclosure herein may be generally applied, although the present invention may be applied as well to other types of similar spinning devices and structures and is not limited to food drying or salad spinners. Devices of this general nature, like that of another exemplary device shown in FIG. 2 from U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,309 to Mulhauser et. al (incorporated herein), include a salad spinner 20 with a container having a bowl 22 and a cover 24 for the bowl 22, a perforated basket 26 disposed in the bowl 22, a lid 28 releasably coupled the basket 26, and a drive assembly 30 adapted to rotate the perforated basket 26 about an axis A relative to the container. With particular reference to FIG. 1 herein, the bowl 22 includes an alternative salad spinner 20B, which is substantially identical to the salad spinner 20, except a brake assembly 300 is provided to reduce and/or stop the rotation of the basket 26, and a cover 24A, slightly different than cover 24 in FIG. 2, to accommodate the brake assembly 300.
For reference purposes, the descriptions of the foregoing devices from U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,883 to Mulhauser and U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,309 to Mulhauser et. al, the bowl 22 of FIG. 2 is generally circular in shape and has a central vertical axis A and a bottom wall 32 with a cone-shaped projection 34 disposed in its center. The bowl 22 also includes a sidewall 36 terminating in a top edge 38 and a foot 40 connected to the bottom wall 32, preferably made of a non-slip material. Generally, the elements of the device in FIG. 2 are numbered the same as their generally corresponding elements of one embodiment of the device of the disclosure as shown in FIG. 3.
The basket 26 in FIG. 2 includes a plurality of latitudinal, coaxial circular ribs 42 connected by a plurality of longitudinal ribs 44 of various lengths. The ribs 42 and 44 cooperate to define a plurality of various sized, generally rectangular apertures 46, which are sized and shaped to allow liquid to pass therethrough. The basket 26 also includes a bottom 48 having a cone-shaped projection 50 at its center which sits atop cone-shaped projection 34 to form a rotational bearing. The ribs 42 and 44 together form a sidewall 52 terminating at a top edge 54.
The lid 28 in FIG. 2 includes a cylindrical peripheral sidewall 56 having a plurality of ribs 58 projecting outwardly therefrom. The lid 28 includes a generally convex annular surface portion 60 connected to the circular sidewall 56, a frustroconical shaped central portion 62 depending from the annular surface portion 60, a radially inwardly extending bottom surface portion 64 integral with the lower end of the frustroconical shaped surface portion 62 and a tubular, upwardly projecting portion 66 integral and substantially coaxial with the bottom surface portion 64. The upwardly projecting portion 66 varies in diameter and includes shoulder surfaces 68, 70 formed thereon. The upwardly projecting portion 66 also includes a slot 71 disposed above shoulder surface 70. The circular sidewall 56 of lid 28 is adapted to be releasably coupled to top edge 54 of basket 26. In an embodiment, the lid 28 is adapted to be releasably coupled to top edge 54 with a mesh engagement with ribs 58.
As seen further in FIG. 2, the cover 24 includes a cylindrical sidewall 76 having an outer diameter substantially equal to the inner diameter of the top edge 38 of the bowl 22, thereby forming a releasable connection therebetween, such as, for example, a simple abutment or loose friction fit. In an embodiment, the releasable connection may simply allow the cover 24 to rest on the bowl 22 and be disposable thereon. The cover 24 also includes an upper surface portion 78, a depending, substantially cylindrical central surface portion 80, an annular bottom surface portion 82 and a generally cylindrical upwardly projecting portion 84 disposable coaxially about a portion of the upwardly projecting portion 66 of the lid 28. The upwardly projecting portion 84 has a radially inturned end 86 at its upper end which abuts shoulder surface 68 of upwardly projecting portion 66. The upwardly projecting portion 84 includes a plurality of axial ribs 88 projecting radially outwardly therefrom. The upper ends of ribs 88 and portions 90 of the end 86 form a generally annular groove 91 therebetween.
The drive assembly 30 of FIG. 2 includes a linearly reciprocating handle structure 94 (or plunger assembly) moveable along vertical axis A. The reciprocating handle structure 94 includes a disc shaped upper end 96, or button structure, and a coaxial cylindrical sidewall 98 depending therefrom. The drive assembly 30 includes a conversion mechanism for converting the reciprocating movement of the handle structure 94 to rotary motion of the basket 26. The conversion mechanism 104 includes an elongated helical screw shaft 106 coaxial with the handle structure 94 and connected at one end to the disc shaped upper end 96, preferably by a pin 107 (shown in FIG. 4 of the '833 patent). The elongated helical screw shaft 106 extends a slight distance below the lower end of the cylindrical sidewall 98. The drive assembly 30 in FIG. 2 also includes a helical compression spring 128 seated against the disc shaped upper end portion 96 of the reciprocating handle structure 94.
As mentioned previously, FIG. 1 shows an alternative salad spinner 20A from the '883 patent which is substantially identical to the salad spinner 20 shown in FIG. 1 from that patent, except that a brake assembly 300 is provided in a slightly modified cover 24A to stop rotation of the basket 26.
The apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,883 includes a least one type of braking mechanism for use in a food spinner. The braking mechanism is carried by the bowl cover and engages the basket cover to stop rotation of the basket assembly. A brake pad is configured for applying friction against the basket cover upon application of the braking mechanism. This type of breaking mechanism imparts in off-center downward force upon the cover of a spinning basket. Such a force may increase wear on certain bearing surfaces of the basket and/or mechanical actuator and may not be efficient for stopping rotation of the basket.